Today we are at a critical juncture in education. Our youth are growing up in a world where globalization, technological innovation, economic competition, racial and ethnic diversification, and political change are transforming societies and creating vast challenges and opportunities. To meet these challenges, today's students need an education that will help them succeed in a rapidly changing world.
The time is ripe for educational change. Recent polls indicate that more and more U.S. citizens want their children to be well versed in civic responsibility as well as in academics. The national media echo the public's concern with student achievement, character building, and school safety.
Last year, the National Commission on Service-Learning, supported by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and chaired by former Senator John Glenn of Ohio, was formed with the belief that students can strengthen their academic skills, build their confidence, prepare themselves for the workforce, and forge a commitment to civic participation—all by engaging in meaningful community-based work. The commission brings a new level of public commitment to service learning.
A growing body of research suggests that service learning can make a powerful contribution to providing a sound, balanced education for all students. If today's students and future generations are to benefit from this educational approach, however, service learning must become a widespread and permanentfeature of the educational landscape.
A Major Report
To provide impetus for achieving this goal, the National Commission on Service-Learning will release a major report in January 2002. The report will affirm service learning as a powerful way to motivate students and engage them in their own learning. The report's action plan and recommendations will focus on
- Practice—Reclaiming the public purpose of education, promoting service learning as an exemplary approach to teaching and learning, and making service learning a fundamental part of teacher preparation.
- Research—Building a credible body of evidence about service learning outcomes and ways to implement service learning that maximize positive results.
- Policy—Creating a policy framework that institutionalizes service learning in K–12 schools.
The National Commission's report should prove an invaluable tool in bringing service learning to students across the United States.
To quote the British essayist, novelist, and poet G. K. Chesterton, "Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." Service learning may hold the key to connecting future generations with their communities and democratic society at large.